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When i saw the lineup yesterday, i thought Valverde was insane. Fielding our B team at Balaídos seems like madness to me. I assumed he would use our A team players away, and more B team players in home match next week. It went fairly well so i can't complain, but i wonder why he did it.

My (bad) theories:

- The club decided we dont care about Copa this year. This seems highly unlikely. We allways want to win everything.

- Valverde assumed Unzue expected a strong lineup so he fielded the B team to suprise Celta. This seems risky concidering the difference between our starters and our bench.

- He saved our A team players. This dosent make much sense since we are playing Levante home this weekend, but maybe Valverde think we can win against Levante in first gear, get the A team going, and trash Celta at home next week. I'm not convinced about this. We are going to Anoeta to play Real Socidad after the second leg against Celta Vigo.

Do anyone else have a good explanation for our line up yesterday?

Didn't see the full game but going by Celta's lack of intensity and Emre Mor being fielded doesn't seem they were playing their main XI either. Or is Mor in starting XI already? But in any case they looked weak.

Didn't see the full game but going by Celta's lack of intensity and Emre Mor being fielded doesn't seem they were playing their main XI either. Or is Mor in starting XI already? But in any case they looked weak.

Man must be feeling like a million bucks now that he finally got Dembele back from injury along with Coutinho signing today.

He was doing well before but having those two here and now will be a dramatic boost for him during the second half of the season. Even if Phil can't play in the CL it allows us to rest key players like Iniesta.

Man must be feeling like a million bucks now that he finally got Dembele back from injury along with Coutinho signing today.

He was doing well before but having those two here and now will be a dramatic boost for him during the second half of the season. Even if Phil can't play in the CL it allows us to rest key players like Iniesta.

Yeah, there's is no way he or we could possibly have bad feelings about this scenario, but I really do wonder how EV will set up the team - especially in regards to Dembélé. He's had a lot of succes with 422 and switching to 433 to accomodate Dembélé could be a risk he's not willing to take at this point. So where will he play? Does he see Coutinho as a 1 to 1 Iniesta replacement or would he rather play him as a 10 or a more advance LW than The Don currently is?

The upcoming period before we really enter the run-in for this season is going to be ridiculously interesting.

Yeah, there's is no way he or we could possibly have bad feelings about this scenario, but I really do wonder how EV will set up the team - especially in regards to Dembélé. He's had a lot of succes with 422 and switching to 433 to accomodate Dembélé could be a risk he's not willing to take at this point. So where will he play? Does he see Coutinho as a 1 to 1 Iniesta replacement or would he rather play him as a 10 or a more advance LW than The Don currently is?

The upcoming period before we really enter the run-in for this season is going to be ridiculously interesting.

Would make sense to have Coutinho as direct Iniesta alternation. Things are working fine and we don't need confusion when Champions League ties come.
Besides, Coutinho will have immediate impact. It's with Dembele that Valverde will have work cut out.

I think a lot depends on how good Dembele is at defending at that RM position. If he is good enough, I can see him playing a lot. But if he doesn't cut it defensively, he could be used as an impact sub more.

Stick to 4 4 2 for the rest of the season.. i can only see one way to accomodate dembele and that is playing him upfront next to messi in suarez s place. And in serious games choose either him or suarez for the role. The rest of the system shall remain intact. Next year we will have all time and personnel to calmly experiment. Judging by the conservative character of velverde i fully expect him to do that and not try to accomodate dembele at the expense of the team.

Now that Coutinho saga seems to be ending, we can see for sure our front 4 for this and the next season.
And the system that works best with the current players is clearly 4-2-3-1
now with

Suarez

Cou----Messi----Dembele

and the permanent next season will be the same with Griezman instead of Suarez
The question is who will play next to Busquets. We need a very good player to do that. For me the ideal will be Kante no1 who we are not planning to buy, Veratti no2 who we cannot buy.
For now the best to play there is probably Paulinho. For the near future (summer) i see someone like Seri or Arthur coming

Now that Coutinho saga seems to be ending, we can see for sure our front 4 for this and the next season.
And the system that works best with the current players is clearly 4-2-3-1
now with

Suarez

Cou----Messi----Dembele

and the permanent next season will be the same with Griezman instead of Suarez
The question is who will play next to Busquets. We need a very good player to do that. For me the ideal will be Kante no1 who we are not planning to buy, Veratti no2 who we cannot buy.
For now the best to play there is probably Paulinho. For the near future (summer) i see someone like Seri or Arthur coming

oh, yes, with 2 midfielders, very balanced team. I hope that someone remember also to defend...

QUOTE (from link you posted) It's not a coincidence that Barça recovered much of its compactness as a team after Neymar left.

This is exactly what Valverde BRILLANT did. We are back as team, as unit. Trashing us with 3-0 or 4-0 is not possible anymore, because
we are a compact and a balanced team. Very impressive how much we improved tactically.

Let's see how Valverde will do with Dembele and Coutinho, I have confiance in him, he will find space for both in an intelligent way. For sure he won't revolutionize the team.
He impressed me and showed that he knows how important it is to have a compact and balanced team first of all.

“I would love to have played at this club. I am envious of how well Guardiola's men can play. They are like a group of kids who play football in the street without rules. That is the best football, the most authentic, unfettered by tactics or schemes. Guardiola’s philosophy is helping to change the mindset of many tacticians and that is priceless.” Marco Van Basten

What is exceptional is that we have so many options and a great manager that knows how to adjust things as needed.

Semedo who is a pure RB vs. Roberto who is more versatile ... Pualinho who is a box to box player vs. Gomes who is a physical LCM/LW vs. Raki who is a pure CM vs. Iniesta who is a possession guru vs. Coutinho who is more of a traditional CAM vs. Dembele who is a pure winger vs. Paco who can support as a secondary ST ... And the list goes on and on

Now that Coutinho saga seems to be ending, we can see for sure our front 4 for this and the next season.
And the system that works best with the current players is clearly 4-2-3-1
now with

Suarez

Cou----Messi----Dembele

and the permanent next season will be the same with Griezman instead of Suarez
The question is who will play next to Busquets. We need a very good player to do that. For me the ideal will be Kante no1 who we are not planning to buy, Veratti no2 who we cannot buy.
For now the best to play there is probably Paulinho. For the near future (summer) i see someone like Seri or Arthur coming